Dale Earnhardt Jr. Crashes in Practice, Will Start Daytona 500 in Back

Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Martin Truex Jr., NASCAR Crashes, NASCAR Testing, Sprint Cup, IRL, NASCAR

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Daytona 500 pole-winning Chevy was involved in a crash Wednesday afternoon and sustained enough damage that the team had to go to a back-up car and will now have to start both Thursday's Gatorade Duel qualifying race and Sunday's Daytona 500 from the back of the field instead of from the front.

Earnhardt's No. 88 AMP Energy Chevy was riding second in a two-car draft behind Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson when they slowed to avoid traffic. The two cars behind them -- Martin Truex Jr. and Brian Vickers --- didn't react quickly enough and Truex hit Earnhardt from behind, sending both cars into the inside wall.

Because of the unique qualifying format for the Daytona 500, only the two fastest cars officially "qualified" for the 500 during Sunday's time trials -- polewinner Earnhardt and second fastest Jeff Gordon. NASCAR rules state that if a driver has to switch from the car he qualified in, then he must drop to the rear of the field for the green flag. When that happens, the third place starter -- which will be determined in Thursday's Gatorade Duel 150-mile qualifying race -- will move up into the first position alongside Gordon for the start of the Daytona 500.

Earnhardt, who had won his first career superspeedway pole, said he had a bad feeling about even running in the rain-delayed practice Wednesday.

"We've got the pole-sitting race car, we didn't need practice,'' an obviously frustrated Earnhardt said, 'I had a fast car and I didn't want to practice it.

"I had a bad feeling about it and we come running up on some guys that didn't have their heads on straight and got into an accident.''

And now, "Get the next one ready,'' he said shaking his head.

 

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Source: http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2011/02/16/dale-earnhardt-jr-crashes-in-daytona-500-practice/

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